Emulsifying composition



Patented July 9, 1940 I UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE EMULSIFYINGCOMPOSITION Roland Kalil), Newark, N. .L, assignor to National OilProducts Company, Harrison, N. J., a corporation of New Jersey 7 noDrawing. Application Februar 10, 1938,

Serial No. 189,901

11 Claims. (Cl. 252-1) The invention relates, in general, toemulsificaproduct possessing the features, properties, and tion and, inparticular, to compositions adapted the relation of constituents, whichare exemplito be blended with various substances to render fled in thefollowing detailed disclosure, and the them soluble or emulsifiable andto correlated pe f he invention will be indicated in the 5 improvementsin processes for producing such claims. 5 compositions The emulsifier ofthe invention comprises an It is known that various water-insolublesubemulsifying agent such as a soap of a suitable stances, such asanimal, vegetable or mineral oils, fatty or like acid, fatty or wax, aglycol solvent waxes, resins, gums, pitches, etc. find extended Vehicleand a degraded glyceride of a higher uses having greater advantages whensuch subfatty or like acid. The term degraded glyceride l0 stances arerendered soluble or emulsifiable in is used to denote a mono ordiglyceride of higher water. Many emulsifying agents have been profattyacids or similar acids such as the naphposed and used for emulsifyingsubstances of the thenic acids or any mixture of. these glycerides.aforementioned ,type. Water-soluble soaps of The composition of theinvention may be prethe higher fatty acids are well known emulsifyingpared by merely admixing the several constitu- 15 agents for manysubstances. However, when atents, thereby forming a composition readilydistempts have been made to employ such soaps for persible in water, butit is preferred to produce emulsifying substances with which they arenorthe-composition by dispersing and/or dissolving mally immiscible,so-called mutual or blending a suitable natural occurring triglyceridein a suitsolvents have been resorted to. These solvents able glycolsolvent vehicle and adding a strong 20 are characterized by the propertyof being misalkali thereto in an amount suflicient to react cible withthe emulsifying agent as well as the with only one or two of the threeavailable ester substance to be emulsified, thereby presenting a groupsin the triglyceride, thereby forming the single phase or solution of thesoap and substance desired soap and degraded glycerides in situ.

to be emulsified. While the use of mutual or The mole ratio of soap todegraded glyceride in 25 blending solvents in the aforementioned mannerthe resulting composition will be at least one to has proved useful incertain isolated cases, genone. This process for preparing degradedglyceral success has not been achieved. After emulsierides is describedin my copending application fication the blending power of the mutualsolvent Serial No. 189,903, filed February 10, 1938. The

0 is materially affected which, in turn, deleteriousemulsifier producedin accordance with the lat- 3o ly aiiects the stability of the emulsion.ter procedure is superior in many respects to the The general object ofthe invention is to 01)- product obtained by merely admixing the severalviate the foregoing and other disadvantages. ingredients. This may beattributed to the fact A specific object of the invention is to providethat the degraded glycerides are formed in situ 5 an improvedemulsifying composition for waterand thereby provide a more intimateblending immiscible substances. action between the soap, which is alsoformed in Another object of the invention is to provide situ and thesubstance to be subsequently emul ian improved emulsifier which willreadily blend fied therewith. In any event, however, the dewithwater-immiscible substances. graded glycerides definitely display amarked A further object of the invention is to provide blending effectbetween the soap and the sub- 40 an improved process for producingemulsifiers. stance to be emulsified irrespective of their mode Otherobjects of the invention will in part be f incorporation. obvious andwill in part appear hereinafter. In preparing the emulsifier of theinvention ac- According to the invention, emulsifiers are procording tothe preferred method, any suitable trivided comprising a partiallysaponified triglycerglyceride of the higher fatty acids may be used 45ide and a glycol solvent. According to the preand, more particularly,the natural occurring ferred method of making the emulsifiers atritriglycerides such, for example, as olive oil, teaglyceride isdissolved or dispersed in a glycol solseed oil, rapeseed oil, cottonseedoil; cocoanut oil, vent vehicle and partially saponified with analkarice bran oil, peanut oil, sesame 011, corn oil,

line agent, thereby producing, in situ, a composoya bean oil, fish oils,tallow, Japan wax, men- 5 sition comprising a soap, a degraded glyceridehaden oil, almond oil, etc., as well as blown or and the unchangedsolvent vehicle. hydrogenated products of these or other triglyc- Theinvention accordingly comprises the severerides. While the common strongalkalis, such a1 steps and the relation of one or more such as potassiumhydroxide, sodium hydroxide, etc. steps with respect to each of theothers, and the may be employed to saponify the triglyceride, it 55following classes may be suggested: vegetable,

is highly preferred to use potassium hydroxide due to the .superiorresults obtained thereby. As aforementioned, it is necessary to effectthe saponification of the triglyceride in the presence of a suitableglycol solvent vehicle, such, for example, as diethylene glycol,cellosolve, carbitol, etc. or fixtures of these or other hydroxy orbydroxy-ether solvents. The expression glycol solvent is employedthroughout the specification and claims to include solvents which areeither true glycols or derivatives of glycols such as glycol ethers orglycoil esters. The temperature at which saponification is caused totake place preferably lies within the range of room temperature to 45 C.and for best results should not exceed 50 C.

The emulsifier of the invention may be admixed and blended with variouswater-immiscible substances to render the same readily dispersible in anaqueous medium. As examples of a few of the substances which may berendered water-' dispersible by the emulsifier of the invention, the

animal and mineral ,oils, waxes, resins, gums, pitches, hydrocarbons,etc.

For a fuller understanding of the nature and objects of the invention,reference should be had to the following examples which are given merelyto further illustrate the invention and are not to be construed in alimiting sense.

Example I Example II 8 .3 parts by weight of tallow in 12.2 parts byweight of diethylene glycol are saponified with 6.5 parts by weight'of45% KOH. The product of this reaction is a suitable emulsifier for rawfats, oils and waxes, such as .tallow, cocoanut oil, sperm oil, etc.

Example III 7.7 parts by weight of KOH (45%) is added to 77 parts byweight of blown menhaden oil in 15.3 parts by weight of diethyleneglycol. This product is an excellent emulsifier for Trinidad asphalt.

Example IV 78.8 parts by weight of oil of sweet almond dispersed in 15.7parts by weight of carbitol are saponified with 5.5 parts by weight of45% KOH. This emulsifier may be used with waxes as a base for facecreams. It may also be used as an emulsifier for white oil in makingskin lotions.

Example V 64.5 parts by weight of castor oil dispersed in 19 parts byweight of diethylene glycol are saponified with 16.5 parts by weight of45% KOH. This product is an excellent emulsifier for pine oil and it maybe used in making bath oils. It is a good emulsifier for essential oilsand finds utility in the manufacture of theatre sprays and otherperfumed products.

While the composition of the invention is par ticularly adapted for usein emulsifying other substances, rectly in the treatment of textile andother materials.

Example VI 79.3 parts by weight of hydrogenated fish oil dispersed in15.9 parts by weight of carbitol are saponified with 4.8 parts by weightof 45% KOH. This product is an excellent lubricant for sewing thread.The lubricant is readily removed from the sewn product by mere washingdue to its emulsifiable character.

Example VII 82 parts by weight of Japan wax in 12.8 parts by weight ofcellosolve are saponified with 5.7 parts of 45% KOH. This product findsutility in the sizing of warp yarns and after weaving the product may befreed from the composition by mere washing with water.

From the foregoing, it may be seen that the composition of the inventionis an excellent emulsifier and due to these properties it also findsutility for other purposes wherein emulsifiable properties are essentialor desirable.

Since certain changes in carrying out the above process and certainmodifications in the composition which embody the invention may be madewithout departing from its scope, it is intended that all mattercontained in the above description shall be interpreted as illustrativeand not in a limiting sense.

It is also to be understood that the following claims are intended tocover all the generic and specific features of the invention hereindescribed and all statements of the scope of the invention, which as amatter of language might be said to fall therebetween; and that they areintended to be inclusive in scope and not exclusive, in that if desired,other materials may be added to my novel composition of matter hereinclaimed without departing from the spirit of the invention. Particularlyit is to be understood that in said claims, ingredients or componentsrecited in the singular are intended to include compatible mixtures ofsaid ingredients wherever the sense permits.

Having described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secureby Letters Patent is:

1. A composition of matter comprising a soap, a degraded glyceride of ahigher fatty acidand a glycol solvent, the molal ratio of soap'todegraded glyceride being at lest 1.

2. An emulsifier comprising a water-soluble soap, a degraded glycerideof a higher fatty acid and a glycol solvent, the molal ratio of soap to'degraded glyceride being at least 1. v

3. An emulsifier comprising a water-soluble soap, a degraded glycerideofa higher fatty acid and a glycol ether, the molal ratio of soap todegraded glyceride being at least 1.

4. An emulsifier comprising a potassium soap, a degraded glyceride of ahigher fatty acid and a glycol ether, the molal ratio of soap todegraded glyceride being at least 1.

5. A composition of matter comprising a soap, diethylene glycol and adegraded glyceride of a higher fatty acid, the molal ratio of soap todegraded glyceride being at least 1.

6. An emulsifier comprising an alkali metal soap, a degraded glycerideof a higher fatty acid and diethylene glycol, the molal ratio of soap todegraded glyceride being at least 1.

7. An emulsifier comprising a potassium soap certain embodiments may beused diof a higher fatty, acid, a degraded glyceride of a higher fattyacid and diethylene glycol, the molal ratio of soap to degradedglyceride being at least 1. 8. A process of producing an emulsifierwhich comprises partially saponifying a triglyceride in a glycol solventwith a strong alkali.

9. A process of producing an emulsifier which comprises partiallysaponifying a triglyceride in 10 comprises saponifying a triglyceride ina glycol solvent with a strong alkali in an amount not greater than thatrequired to react with two of the three available ester groups.

11. A process of producing an emulsifier which comprises saponifying atriglyceride in a glycol ether with potassium hydroxide in an amount notgreater than that required to react with two of the three availableester groups,

